I just bought an Isonic 101 and use it in small chop in 20 knots of wind twice . I use 6.7 m sail .Once was with Neutron 6.7 and other with NP Saber sail .I found the board quite bouncy and feel drag with the supplied 34 cm fin . Is it due to the bottom too flat ? My footstrap is the recommended hole . I weight 165 lbs .
Please advise me . Thank you .
Albert .

Guest

30th January 2007 10:58 PM

RE: Isonic stance .

I also notice that Antonie Albeau stance is quite different from Bjorn
Dunkerbeck stance in Slalom . Antonie stance is more upright and seem to let the sail power the board while Bjorn use the old style
stance . Should I use the upright stance ?
Albert .

o2bnme

31st January 2007 01:27 AM

RE: How to sail the Isonic 101 ?

Hmm... I&#39;m lighter than you, so I would be on a smaller sail. I guess I would say keep working at it. My first few times going out on my iSonic 105 when on a smaller sail (and in chop) weren&#39;t what I would call dialed in. I don&#39;t mean to say I wasn&#39;t enjoying myself, but I could tell I wasn&#39;t capitalizing on the speedy reputation of the iSonic line. After a season, I am more confident I&#39;m closer to maximizing my speed on this board. Chop, I found, is a key inhibitor for me too.

Ian talks about having to be more of an active participant when sailing the iSonics. Roger Jackson talks about letting the board have more freedom findings its own way.

One question I have... What position are your footstraps and your mast track? Whenever I find the board is bouncing more than I like, I move the mast a bit forward to settle things. Being lighter than you, I probably do this sooner than most. Ian mentions setting the straps in the center holes for a compromise (farther back for speed, farther forward for control). I have yet to try moving my straps forward, so I can&#39;t talk about how helpful that gem is.

NOT a recommendation... just my experience... Whenever I&#39;m fully powered up on my iS105, I&#39;m using my 34cm fin (or a 30cm fin I bought for my 4.8 or a weed fin at Hatteras). I find I have a good amount of my weight on my back foot and my front foot is just stabilizing the board a bit. I usually feel that my front foot isn&#39;t doing much and if I could get more pressure on my front foot I would gain in control and maybe speed.

Again, parroting what I heard from Ian on this forum, he talks about shifting weight a bit forward and letting the board really take off. It is scary at first, but worth the reward. Do you think this might translate to standing up on the board more than the traditional stance?

Hopefully others will chime in on this (or correct me). Being so light (140-145pounds) I usually have different experiences with boards than others. I only chimed in because you are closer to my weight than others asking this sort of question.

Philip

31st January 2007 10:54 AM

RE: How to sail the Isonic 101 ?

Never sailed isonic. But for modern slalom boards in general. When on the plane, swing weight forward (in seat harness), come up and push boom back and down with rear hand. With front hand push mast away in the gust. Problem is that you won&#39;t want to make that next turn.:o

Ola_H

31st January 2007 03:01 PM

RE: How to sail the Isonic 101 ?

I&#39;m a wave sailor and have no previous slalom experience. I got the iS101 last summer and coming from wave gear the transistion was kind of big. What I noticed (and this may be totally different with more experienced sailors) was that I had to play around quite a bit with boom height. I ended up using it fairly high. I also agree with o2bnme about trying to move the mast track forwards a bit. Theoretically, further back maight be faster, but I did some GPS experimenting and I seem to go faster when not placing the mast so far back. I also try to use the "scary technique" that 02bnme talks about, ie lean forwards a bit. In less powered up conditions I also use the front foot to trim the board, ie lift with it a bit sometimes to make the board run as freely as possible. I&#39;ve also found, that at my ability, to much sail power does not nessacarily mean more speed.

Overall, I think the iS101 is wonderfully easy to use even for a slalom novice as me.

Willy B18

1st February 2007 02:04 AM

RE: How to sail the Isonic 101 ?

Quote:

o2bnme...if I could get more pressure on my front foot I would gain in control and maybe speed.

You could try to lower your boom 1 or 2 cm. You will be rewarded with a bit more pressure on your front foot (and somewhat more control too ... )